Pool Boy

I may be in the minority here, but I think Sarah & Sparky's wines are generally overrated, particularly by Parker. Generally too 'sweet' and subject to wide bottle variation. That said, clearly I have not tasted this wine nor have I had any of the wines these two have been responsible for in about two years.

Sounds like a great idea. Italy is where I'd go for sure. I'd try to hit some of the agritourismo farms in Emiglia Romagna, too, and maybe Montalcino for some Ribollita. Damn, I need to get back there again.

Thanks for the tips. An early ressie has been made for next week on the weekend. Tasting menu is fine, and they can deal with my brother's vegematicness with no worries. We'll remind them when we arrive, too. And they allow BYOW, too for a $20 corkage so I get to bring some goodies from the cellar. Looking forward to it.

I am hoping to go here very soon. One of the folks in attendance is a vegetarian, do you all think this will pose a problem? Is it something we should call ahead about? If we do the tasting menu like I think we'd all ideally like to try, can they make vegematic options for the one in our party, or will we just have to a la carte it? TIA

I love to eat and try new things. I make special trips to go to Philadelphia. Or New York City. I go out of my way on trips to hit places I have only read about before, just to try something great and new (think Smitty's in Lockhart, TX). I plan my trip[s around the dinners I hope to experience. But I'll be damned if I hardly ever make it to NoVa much to do the same. I know, I know, that's weird. Maybe I hate the NoVa traffic (which from all of my experiences is generally worse (though not by much) than Maryland's traffic). Maybe I hate to drive 45 min or an hour just to eat someplace. It makes it easier if the traffic is light, sure, but we all know it usually is not. I try NoVa places I have heard about when the opportunity presents itself, like when I need to be down there for something else anyway. I just thought of another thing. I drive to Arlington, and even sometimes Alexandria far before I'll go to Fairfax or Reston or anywhere out in 'western' NoVa. Why? Well, since DC is generally where I choose to dine, to hop over to Arlington or Alexandria isn't thaaaaat much further (ok, Arlington more than Alexandria), so it's not as much a stretch for me. Anyway, I'll make trips over there to hit some wine shops, maybe hit Cheesetique and a lunch of Crisp & Juicy. That's a good day IMO. But to schlepp across the American Legion Bridge or the WW Bridge is agony to me. I do it only on rare occasions anymore mainly due to the traffic. I make exceptions of course (the couple times I have hit Maestro for example, some dinners at a super-foodie pal of mine's home as he cooks like a demon), but I far prefer to hit DC or places in MD and/or Arlington far before elsewhere in NoVa. But give me a reason to go and I'm there. Give me a quest and I am there. Find me down there for another reason and I'll happily seek out a good food experience. But please, do not ring me up on a Thursday night at 6:30 or 7 and say 'Hey dude, let's schlepp to Reston for this great place I discovered!' BAH I say. Not worth it.

Gonna be in LA for a couple of days and nights. Not sure yet where we're staying or what we're doing during the days, but the focus is on food as usual. We're looking for some really good restaurants for the two nights we'll be there. I am not interested in hip or trendy, but rather damn fine food that is hopefully inventive and unique as well. These can't both be $500+ nights for two, but I'm not one to cheap out if the food and experience are really really good. Also, looking for suggestions for interesting lunches and breakfasts. Here we're hoping to explore some authentic mexican and related central american and other cuisines that are probably best represented in the LA part of the country. These can be dives, joints, whatever. I expect to be fairly adventurous here and am willing to try anything. Thanks

Never!

Another reason not to shop at Total Wine and it's Maryland stepchild, Corridor Wine. BAH! Much better places around to shop for wine.

Doesn't Craft in NYC do this too (albeit with much more exotic sounding sauces and accompaniments)?

Never been there to eat, but I have found their wine selection (bottles for sale) pretty weak.

Well put.

I ate there once, at the downtown location, with some wino friends. It was OK, but nothing special. The service was not good or bad, but maybe a bit slow. But with wino pals, the wine bottles keep getting opened so it's hard to care at that point.

That's it. Bingo. And to whomever mentioned ordering outside of the comfort zone, I agree. Sometiumes we get stuck in a rut and then we go back to a place making sure to NOT order anything we have had before. That is usually easy enough to do, especially with specials available. For the person who regretted not getting the octopus special, do you remember what the preparation is/was? I am on a quest to try every freaking octopus dish I can find to see if I can find one that is close or similar to the one I had in Bologna. I dream of that octopus.

My wife and I were here recently for lunch. After seeing the newly re-opened Portrait Gallery and I forget the name of the other museum they share space with (building had been closed for 6-7 years for a renno), it was an easy choice to pop in here for a tasty bite. We were a tad on the early side of lunch, maybe 11:45. Without a ressie we were seated immediately. We were a little disappointed that there were no specials available, being told by our wait person that this is only available during dinner. Bummer. But we still had plenty to choose from. One of the standouts was the Garides Me Anitho, sauteed shrimp with dill, shallots, mustard and lemon juice. Wow. Perfectly prepared, I could have eaten 4 or 5 dishes of these all to myself and been very happy. The Skate Skordalia was pretty good. Beer-batter dipped and fried and served with 'Skordalia potato garlic sauce, this was an interesting way to serve up skate. Nice. The Piperyes was good, particularly for the olives. The roasted peppers were good, but not great. The HAvoc Koftesi is almost a standing order when we go here. These carrot, apricot and pine nut fritters with pistachio sauce are always good. We also had this very interesting beef-pasta dish that was very different for me. Tiny amounts of beef in what looked like tiny pipette pasta, the texture was new to me and the whole mess of stuff was covered in this yogurt and spice mixture, which is what made the dish for me. Very interesting dish. I can't remember the rest. The water glasses were always full, we had enough bread for dipping and plate cleaning. Only minor wrinkles in service were waiting for the check and a brief delay when we were not ready when he was to take our order and it took just long enough for me to think it just a tad too long for him to reappear. But no biggie. All in all nice. I'm happy to go back again anytime.

My wife and I dined here last weekend and were very happy with this dining choice. I'd originally planned to go this weekend, but then went back to OpenTable and realized they had an early time slot open on Sunday so we took it (530pm). We'd just skip lunch. Found a parking spot right out front and no need to feed the meter on the weekend. The front of the place is definitely the market and it looked like it was winding down when we walked in. The host-person was on the ohone when we got there and it looked like the staff were all in the kitchen getting some quick tastes and instructions on specials presumably. The host-person never really acknowledged us when we walked up and she continued her conversation. A couple of minutes later she was done. She checked our ressie and then said she'd be right back saying that she needed to check to see if they needed to set up the table. She came back saying yes they would have to do so and we waiting another couple of minutes. Then she took us to a table that we saw from our spot waiting that was already made up and didn't and wasn't remade up. Odd. But the rest of the evening was very nice. The waiter was interested in helping us have a good time and we discussed the wine we'd brought along for a bit as he seemed interested in wine (it was a 2000 Kistler Durrell Chard). After listening to his review of the menu we settled in for a good read of it, the menu. I must say that I have not had a more difficult to choose from menu in quite a while. Wow, it all sounded so good. I believe I had a couple of small plates, an appetizer and an entree and my wife had the same less one of the small plates. I had some baby octopus (very good, but I am still in search of a small, but not baby, octopus, that is prepared simply, maybe smoked, that could hold a candle to what I had at Trattoria Battibeco in Bolognaa, Italy), and a grilled sardine with lemon and something else (very good and simply prepared), followed by skate wing (really great!) and Red Puppy Drum for the entree (never having heard of this before, I had to try it, especially with the accompaniments and morels --great stuff). My wife had some salt cod croquettes with Piquillo Pepperonata that were simply sublime, a very nice tian (she liked it a lot) and this halibut that was simply great. With no room for dessert, we opted for some coffee (their idea of a cup is quite large!) that we lingered over for a while. Our waiter (Quinn?) was great and his service and the food made the evening for us. A short walk around the block through the neighborhood to walk off some of the dinner and we were off on our way back home. I'd recommend this place to anyone. I expect to go back again soon.

So, here's the report on what I bought --manchego (I forget the exact name and I tossed the wrapper!), good but not great clisson, mild, interesting, but overpowered by the other cheeses mimolette, a personal favorite and tonight did not disappoint montgomery cheddar...WOW!

Got some mimolette, clisson, a cool aged cheddar (forgot the name) and a nice manchego there yesterday. A nice clean shop with very helpful and attentive staff. Wandered to the liquor store next door to browse their wines and left shaking my head at their pricing (but I guess their rent must be sky high these days).

We almost hit this the other night for dinner. I'll make a point to hit it in the next couple of weeks to give a different point of view and see how we match up.

Well.....I am bummed and happy at the same time. When they move to Dupont, it'll make it that much more difficult to find parking. Yes, I can metro, but it takes longer. Bah! I am sure the new place will be wonderful and great and I wish them the best in the move, but I can't not say that I'm a little bummed just because it's so convenient where it is now. Oh well, as long as they are still around making otherworldly food, I am happy. Anyone know the anticipated move date? I want to make sure I hit them in the soon to be old spot at least a few more times.

How to fall asleep during your meal! Never had any Clos Mimi, so can't comment directly, but the alcohol level seems, er, HIGH. Hic.

That link is GOLD. So much to take in and check out. Many thanks!

I'm a foodie that likes to say 'I'm brian and so is my wife.' as well as 'We worship the gourd.' But that's just trying to be funny. I actually got in to being a foodie and a wino maybe 6, 8, 10 or more years ago depending on your definition. But my wife and I plan our travels and our calendar based on places to eat and experience. Not as the sole basis, of course, but it clearly comes in to play in the decision-making process. Mega expensive dinners. Cheap eats. Dives. Joints. Cooking. Experimenting in the kitchen. Wine tastings. All that and more. I found out about this place I am not sure how, but not long after it opened, probably due to info over on eGullet but I do not really remember. I used to post there and Chowhound, but not anymore. I rarely even read those places much anymore. I spend most of my wine-time on Vinocellar.com and WinoDepot.com and then spend my foodie time here and on my wife's joint, Roguefood.

If I lived in DC-proper, my rotation would be seriously different. But I live in Maryland (Laurel) and I work in Owings Mills, MD (my wife works in DC though). So getting out to the places I like and would like to try is often just a weekend thing for me and my wife. The only place where I think I could be considered a 'regular' would be Palena, and that is stretching things most likely. Blacksalt is a new fave based on this past weekend's experience there, so that will go in to the 'rotation' if I even have one. We really like Corduroy, so mark me down for that, too. I need to get my wife to Dino, as she has yet to dine there even though I have twice with the DC Crü But I think that is really it. Maybe you could throw Mendocino in there, too. She used to work in Dupont, so she has quite a few haunts there. And we have hit quite a few places over the years, but not with great consistency. Here in the MD burbs, I'd say we are serious regulars of Pasta Plus in Laurel, and Joe's Noodle House in Rockville. I frequent Que Rico, El Paraiso, and Vito's in Owings Mills, MD for lunch.

My wife is a cookie baker extraordinaire, but this thread seems like a great resource for more recipes. Thanks for that. She generally starts experiments after making a batch per the given recipe and then tweaks with it until it becomes the cookies she wants. This seems to work really well. Why? Well, after three increasingly competitive years of local fair baking, she's gotten some experience. Not to meantion a 'Best in Show' in 2003 from the Prince George's County Fair, and couple of first place awards in 2004 in the Howard County Fair, and the Best In Show Special Award in the 2005 Maryland State Fair. It's good to be me. I get to 'test' all of the recipes, too, natch.

I'll also chime in for Steve's Prince of Steaks. I prefer the 'not hacked to death' kind of sheesesteak that most places serve up. Steve's offers up a fine cheesesteak that also give you a better textrual feel for the eating/tasting experience. I have also eaten those from Pat's, Geno's and Jim's. Out of those three, I prefer Jim's, but none of them really shine IMO. Delessandro's was OK, but it is again hacked to death. They have some nice peppers and other stuff available which is very good. And the cheesesteaks I had there were of the biggest portion (geno's was the smallest at 7-ish ounces, while Delessandro's was at or about 16 oz).